Tag Archives: Facebook

Reflecting on social media ‘bullshit’ in solomon islands

https://devpolicy.org/social-media-bullshit-threatens-control-of-covid-19-outbreak-in-png-20210323-3/

Reading Sue Ahearn’s well informed article published in Devpolicy.org (or see Who we are) provides a kind of a background to ways in which social media is used in this part of the Pacific. My knowledge and experience is with the Solomon Islands, an archipelago of small islands geographically and culturally close to the much larger PNG. At this time, the threat of COVID is very real, but in the Solomon Islands towns and more remote areas of PNG, news and ‘facts’ are shared primarily through Social Media, mostly FB.

PNG & Solomon Islands, Australia’s northern Pacific Island neighbours

Few people have the skills or literacy abilities for critical analysis or ‘fact finding’ beyond a headline or brief comment/claim. Paying for data to connect to the internet or to open links is out of reach of most people. Links are often posted to less reputable sites that present stories inspired by ‘conspiracy theories’ that look just as trustworthy as any other. If it is a ‘doctor’ or a ‘priest’ presenting these ‘facts’, and if they are relatable (eg dark skin), they are more likely to be shared.

https://www.ourtelekom.com.sb/deals/hot-deals/
Solomon Islands main provider. Note small print… Many people complain about their data disappearing, or ‘being stolen from them’ – it is very hard to keep track.
https://devpolicy.org/internet-prices-in-papua-new-guinea-20200130/

When you clicked on this blog post to open it, did you think about how much money it would cost you for the blog page to open? For many internet users in developing nations, such issues are serious considerations, given high internet prices, particularly when compared to generally low incomes.

https://devpolicy.org/internet-prices-in-papua-new-guinea-20200130/
Written by Amanda H A Watson

If my friend in the Solomon Islands has data, they can access the internet. We use Messenger or IMO to speak but the quality is incredibly low and intermittent. They may call five times, I hear the ring, answer, hello? hello? hello???? I can’t hear anything… After a minute or two, hang up, then again, hello? hello? Can you hear me? A delay … a response comes through to something I said maybe 40 seconds ago. Maybe we can have a ‘conversation’, depending on where they are standing. Sorry, you’re breaking up … sorry, what did you say? Sorry, I missed that, not clear. This is how we ‘communicate’.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-12/australia-solomon-islands-png-sign-undersea-cable-deal/9983102

Australia signs on amid security concerns

“Back in 2016 the Solomon Islands government signed a deal with Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei to lay a cable to Australia.

But the Australian government was concerned Huawei would be permitted to plug into Australia’s telecommunications infrastructure. […] The Australian Government then announced its support for the PNG cable and a few months later said it would foot most of the bill to lay the cable to the Solomon Islands as well.”

Old news now. The undersea cable was completed in 2019. As yet, there seems to be no improvement to the system or lowering of prices/access.

“Bringing lower cost fast and reliable internet and communications to the Solomon Islands through the Coral Sea Cable System and Their domestic network “

https://www.facebook.com/solomonsubmarinecable/

[No new or updated information appears to be available.]

https://www.anao.gov.au/work/performance-audit/post-implementation-review-the-coral-sea-cable-system-project

So, beyond the data/communication issues…

https://www.statistics.gov.sb/ – The Official Website front page – note dates!

The most recent Solomon Islands National Census was held on 24th November, 2019. (I was there! – it was a massive and difficult task, and like a lot of information in the Solomon Islands, is likely to not quite tell the whole truth!) But it is clear to all that it is a very rapidly growing population, and keeping up with infrastructure to support and educate this population is constantly far behind what is required.

As can be seen clearly in the information provided below, the increase in social media users in the Solomon Islands is also massive, and rapid. It is hardly surprising that with this growth, the generally low levels of media literacy or English language skills, and the proportion of the population who live in rural areas (generally village subsistence) that misinformation and/or conspiracy theories and calls to ‘return to traditional (and godly) ways’, are often the responses on or to social media posts.

https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2020-solomon-islands#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20mobile%20connections,71%25%20of%20the%20total%20population.

Schools in the Solomon Islands are banning mobile phones – even boarding schools where the students live far from their homes and families, which has had a mixed response. (Link to interesting article about pros and cons of banning mobile phones in schools) Social media and internet access is often blamed for declining standards – loss of respect, declining education standards, increased rapes and unwanted pregnancies, domestic violence … all blamed on the proliferation of pornography and western values through mobile phone use and exposure. Interestingly, some commentators (particularly those working with NGOs) also note that it is more likely that social media and internet access just makes the news about instances involving these declining standards far more public than before.

Culture and close extended family networks mean that incidences have often been shut down and kept quiet as protection from shame being brought about after such events. Corruption at high levels has also continued ad nauseum. Social media has provided a ‘voice’ for victims and increase in awareness and human rights, but this is really so ‘new’ and so sudden that the controversy over banning Facebook by the Solomon Islands Government is hardly surprising. (see previous post: SOCIAL MEDIA IN LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES)

Covid-19

Globally shared information about Covid-19, in a country that has had only 20 cases, all brought in by overseas travellers and quarantined, with apparently few to no symptoms, is difficult to take on or believe or relate to. I hear regularly of far too many deaths in the only National Referral Hospital, people of all ages, dying primarily of Non-communicable diseases and lack of treatment options being available. These deaths are shared by family members and people pay their condolences with messages on Facebook. It is hardly surprising that local Solomon Islanders would be more inclined to stories and local pandemics rather than this foreign pandemic that has the world on edge, and a ‘vaccination’ for something that hasn’t touched them beyond closed borders and financial loss.

https://github.com/CSSEGISandData/COVID-19

As can be seen in the latest on COVID in neighbouring PNG (above), the case in the Solomon Islands is volatile and could change rapidly at any time. Much international Aid and attention has been put on the Covid pandemic with increased education and quarantine measures, but many people are resistant and aggrieved that this money is not being spent on existing problems.

For better or worse, social media is a tool that has opened up communication and access to information in the Solomon Islands but how much of this is ‘mis-informed bullshit’ remains a cause for concern and vigilance.

Social media in less developed countries

So there are about one billion three hundred and ten million results found on this query in 0.55 seconds? I was actually considering my own experiences with social media over three years, when I lived and worked in two ‘less developed countries’, Laos and Solomon Islands, during the period 2017-2019. But I’m not sure I have anything new or original to add, if there are that many ‘relevant’ posts already!

Savannakhet, Lao PDR 2016-2017

In Laos I found that Facebook, WhatsApp, and no doubt other platforms, were used in a multitude of ways. As an outsider, everyone I met would ask me to link up with them on social media. I was resistant, I had made it a self proclaimed policy back then (2016) that I would only make ‘friends with’, or link with people I knew, and felt comfortable with. I seriously considered setting up a new FB profile that I could use so that my current friends and feeds did not get mixed in with my new friends and feeds.

Can I create multiple Facebook accounts? https://www.facebook.com/help/975828035803295/?ref=share

I didn’t bother setting myself up a new page/profile. It seemed many of those making requests wanted to simply link up, and thereby use our ‘friendship’ like a reference on their resume, which turned out to be not a problem for me. They did ‘like’ my posts, so we were somehow ‘connected’. In 2021 I still am connected to a number of these people. We share our news- often their posts are in Lao language, and I will translate it. I still have a friend who contacts me often – I used to sit down and ‘talk’ with her every day after work over a reviving beer lao, but we never really shared a common language. We now correspond via Facebook, and she says that she uses a translator app to maintain the conversation.

The culture and Lao context is very different to what many of us (in more ‘developed’ countries’ might know or expect. The college I worked at, the staff and many of my friends were very ‘rule oriented’, they loved their uniforms, conformity was applauded and expected. They laughed at my antics, wanted to learn from my English, and were amused at my non-conformist behaviour. Flip side was that I was an outsider in all ways, a source of curiosity and friendliness, but always on the periphery of the society, never really having access to the deep culture and beliefs of these people.

What I learnt about social media in this context was that it was a tool to make and retain connections, that for many it was a source of English language and mixed cultural examples, that Buddhist monks used social media and that in some ways, it contributed to opening up the world and possibilities of social and cultural connections and understandings. At the same time it was used by most people to communicate locally, and the more ‘friends’ on your list the more socially ‘successful’ you were seen to be. But on the other hand, these ‘connections’ are also heavily impacted upon by Covid and travel restrictions. So for the moment, social media keeps me somewhat in the ‘loop’ with my beloved Savannakhet, Lao PDR.

Solomon Islands – 1994, 2004, 2018-19

I spent longer in the Solomon Islands, and have longer standing relationships there. When I first went as a volunteer in 1994, there were few telephones or even electricity connections (none in rural areas where the majority of population still live), no mobile phones, few computers or access to technology. What there was was often donated through aid, and mostly ended up useless as there was no expertise in repairs. I lived on a remote island (Pigeon Island, Temotu) in 2004 and they had a small computer connected to the Sailmail communications system, and a two way radio that people would come from surrounding areas to use to send or receive urgent messages from the capital.

Brief sideline – I found myself as the new teacher at Pigeon Island with my son after responding to this advertisement in 2004… http://www.nelligennet.com/pigeon1e.htm

Since that time, I had received requests from extended family and friends to connect on Facebook. Most of my Facebook feed is now from the Solomon Islands and I am able to keep contact with friends, extended family, colleagues and professionals. I am able to keep up with news and discussion forums, government announcements, interest groups, and more. I still host and maintain two Facebook pages with former colleagues – Friends of Special Development Centre and Research, Reports and Statistics of Solomon Islands.

The use of Facebook in the Solomon Islands has caused some controversy, as access is relatively new for many people, it is available in most areas, and the Solomon Islands Government (SIG) recently tried to instigate a plan to ‘Ban Facebook’. This set off all kinds of backlash and anti-government sentiment being shared, alongside more traditionally focussed members of the community who in fact continue to blame Facebook for the declining respect for tradition, access to pornography (and hence rise in violent rape and crime) and the negative influence of Western behaviours.

It also happened in the midst of the Covid ‘SOE’ – State of Emergency, that was said to give the government unnecessary powers to stifle public knowledge or opinion.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-23/solomon-islands-set-to-ban-facebook-for-sake-of-national-unity/12910786

After the initial announcement, the online forums and public posts went in all directions! More technologically astute people began to share ways to get around the ‘ban’ (which was only FB, not any other platform) and other social media options were shared, including questionable sites (a lot of these had increased popularity during Trump’s dying days). The level of technological mastery is generally low, particularly in the provinces, so for many it was Facebook or nothing. A large and vocal number of people preferred nothing.

The SIG later backed down on these plans, and things have largely gone back to the way they were, although certain media commentators and content decision makers do seem to be more cautious about what they will post.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-15/solomon-islands-backtracks-on-plan-to-ban-facebook/13060246

This is the first of my posts relating to Social Media use in Developing countries. Please look out for my next post: Reflecting on social media ‘bullshit’ in solomon islands 

Who uses facebook? a new blog ‘review’ in progress…

In writing this for my Edublog, I was very conscious of the greying of notions of in/formality that seems appropriate for a blog, and ‘academic prose’ with formal academic language/structure/grammar and formatting.  I like my blogs with a more informal ‘chatty’ and conversational tone, shorter blocks of text, and the occasional sideline or rethink, or self talk/reflection.  Can blogs then be taken seriously, as offering anything substantial to academia?  Does a review or a critique written as a blog have any sway or influence?  Does it need to?  … (sideline… Do I care?)

Reading 1:  Ryan, T., & Xenos, S. (2011, 2011/09/01/). Who uses Facebook? An investigation into the relationship between the Big Five, shyness, narcissism, loneliness, and Facebook usage.

From abstract:  The results [from a self selected sample of 1324 Australian Internet users] showed that Facebook users tend to be more extraverted and narcissistic, but less conscientious and socially lonely, than nonusers. Furthermore, frequency of Facebook use and preferences for specific features were also shown to vary as a result of certain characteristics, such as neuroticism, loneliness, shyness and narcissism. It is hoped that research in this area continues, and leads to the development of theory regarding the implications and gratifications of Facebook use. [my highlighting] © 2011

I am already on edge – the date of the article, the premises suggested by the title, the shifts in global social media usage and availability over the last 10+ years, and the discipline area of behaviour and personality characteristics through a psychological lens.  But I persist reading, with trepidation…

Apparently, (Ryan & Xenos, 2001 p.1659) “[r]ather than looking at the relationship between Internet use and specific traits, the majority of research in this area has been based on broad models of personality. The Five-Factor Model, otherwise known as the Big Five (Goldberg, 1990), [… which] is based on the theory that an individual’s personality can be evaluated by determining how they rank on five bipolar factors: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience (McCrae & John, 1992)”… Ok, I’m not sure I can read any more.  The idea of ‘evaluating an individual’s personality’ based on these factors is just not agreeable for a sociology inclined thinker that I am. 

After skipping through the rest of the article (we call it ‘skimming’ for a general picture, or ‘scanning’ for something worthwhile to spend more time on – see https://library.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/1924140/Reading_Skills.pdf), the most notable ‘finding’ seemed to be that “Facebook gratifies its users in different ways depending on their individual characteristics” (p.1663).  One of the sections was based on ‘specific gratifications of Facebook users’, and another on ‘Frequency of Facebook use’.  These and specific purposes or motivations for using Facebook I think would be quite different now (in 2021) than they might have been then, for a multitude of reasons. 

However, after reading, I have been prompted to think about what sort of questions I have, that I would like considered through research, particularly those relating to communication, FB (vs other social media) in less developed countries, and whether it is simply a ‘distraction from’ education, or a ‘potential tool for’ education.

Reading 2:  The effects of personality traits, self-esteem, loneliness, and narcissism on Facebook use among university students (2012, Skues et al), from the same journal.  Again it appears centred on university students as users, to be focussed on ‘personality traits’, and to be from almost 10 years ago.

Admittedly another skim read, and the feeling I need to look elsewhere for the type of research I would prefer to engage with.

Extract from Abstract:  “Interestingly, students with higher levels of loneliness reported having more Facebook friends. Extraversion, neuroticism, self-esteem and narcissism did not have significant associations with Facebook use. It was concluded that students who are high in openness use Facebook to connect with others in order to discuss a wide range of interests, whereas students who are high in loneliness use the site to compensate for their lack of offline relationships. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]”.

Again, trepidation – and a bit of self analysis, hmmm, do each of these ‘traits’ exist in isolation from others?  Pick a time of day/week/year, consider context, and I can perform all or any of the above according to psychometrics.  You can probably tell that I’m not really a fan of, or believer in psychological categorisations!

Some interesting aspects in the discussion caught my eye.  Notions such as ‘Impression management’; Facebook ‘as a means of taking a break or as a distraction from study’, ‘connect[ing] with others who share similar interest[s]’; ‘students turn[ing] to Facebook to avoid academic tasks’; and the final recommendation, ‘future research should consider whether Facebook promotes social engagement in a manner that might increase academic engagement, or whether it operates as a distraction’ (Skues et al, 2012 p. 2418). 

However, as a regular Facebook user myself, I am really not so sure that any of these ‘interesting aspects’, are really so helpful.  Facebook (and other social media sites) have a multitude of uses and purposes which are interesting and variable, but how do these findings help us in ‘facilitating online learning’?

The final article I will look at, that I have chosen myself to hopefully obtain some information that is useful for my work as an online educator, is …

Marketing           Psychology         Personality        

(Sideline/note/addendum – I went searching, post 2018, there are hundreds of thousands of articles published about FB/education/online learning …  so I’ll save the next instalment for later.  This is about it for me – and I still need to check my FB before I can go to bed … until next time 😊)

References (for now…)

Skues, J. L., Williams, B., & Wise, L. (2012). The effects of personality traits, self-esteem, loneliness, and narcissism on Facebook use among university students. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(6), 2414-2419. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.07.012

Ryan, T., & Xenos, S. (2011, 2011/09/01/). Who uses Facebook? An investigation into the relationship between the Big Five, shyness, narcissism, loneliness, and Facebook usage. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(5), 1658-1664. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.02.004